“Giving us $15 an hour isn’t going to make us rich, isn’t going to put us on a level with Trump, it’s not going to put us with Governor Rauner, it’s just going to help us off-set some of the expense we endure of being a home care provider and trying to help others that need us,” Beverly says.

Guzzardi thinks he’ll have the votes to get a gradual increase in the minimum wage through 2022 through both Houses of the Democrat-controlled General Assembly, but fears Republican Governor Bruce Rauner will veto the bill.

Guzzardi says all opponents need to do is look to other states and other communities with “$15 per hour” and realize it hasn’t killed job growth or produced mass layoffs in those places. He says communities need employees with “money in their pockets” to support the economy.

State Representative LaToya Greenwood of East Saint Louis is a co-sponsor of the bill.